For those who lost weight and gained it back

Here's a "different" before/after.

my before pic, I had lost my baby weight and decided to do a bikini competition. A few months later...

http://www.picisto.com/photos/picisto-20140719202002-388665.jpg

sure, the 2nd pic isn't all that big but..compared to the first one.. I was bummed.

I know now what made me gain.

Restrictive clean eating and working out for aesthetics without a goal beyond aesthetics once I hit my goal weight, and quite frankly I burnt the heck out. I live, I learn. I now concentrate on different goals, my goal now is performance in powerlifting and kettlebell sport competitions.

Now I am back to what I look like in my profile pic, leaner than my 2nd pic, but bigger than my bikini competition photo..and am fine with it. I feel good. I just train to get stronger and better in my lifts now. I no longer stress about clean eating. If I would mess up , I would feel like giving up the rest of the day. Now I forgive myself much more easily.

Stress>no exercise>unhealthy food>laziness

Lost. 50 lbs. I stopped logging , thought I knew what I was doing. Once I stopped keeping track I stopped being accountable , eventually I stopped jogging as often , didn't seem to gain weight so I started eating junk. Eventually I was falling I it old habits and I gained it all back.

Thankfully I kept up with weight training so I had a more sold frame but I was still overweight.

So don't stop logging!!!

I'm now down 40 again and hope I can keep the discipline to stay this way

Twice in my life I have lost over 100 pounds and I have gained it back. Every time I have lost weight I have diligently tracked my calories (it used to be in a spiral notebook) and exercised. When I gained it back I quit doing that. I got comfortable and it came back very easily. The second time I used my pregnancy as an excuse but I ended up gaining way more than the recommended 25 pounds. Then after I had my son I kept putting it on. I know for me that I really need to keep an eye on it all of the time. I don't feel that I could do a cheat day and be able to recover from it the next day. I know I'm not at a point to be able to do that yet. I'm on my third try with losing weight and I know for my health I need to be successful. Hopefully I can stick with it.

I lost 60+ lbs just before graduating from college through calorie restriction and excessive exercise. It was not a sustainable thing.

There are a few reasons, besides this that I consider my "excuses" though they aren't at all. Ultimately, what made me gain it back, was me. I gave up when life got tough.

-Graduated, had to get a job at a bakery because no one would hire me without experience in my degree field.
-Free food at that bakery, and so many cookies.
-Grandfather was killed in a fireworks accident, spent 3 weeks in the ICU eating fast food in addition to the stress.
-Moved across the country to a region with excellent food (Southwest) and enjoyed myself with too much booze, too many gut-busting meals, and not enough exercise.
-A dissolution of my 4 year relationship, depression, having to move back and basically be unemployed/homeless for a year. I was on food stamps for the first time in my life, and cheap calories are bad calories.

These things, especially the interruptions in my routine, had me gaining back every single pound I lost, and an additional 20 more over the course of 4 years. In April of 2013 I was the heaviest I"d ever been, a stone's throw away from 300 lbs.

Currently, I'm down 35 lbs in a matter of months, and am doing it in a sustainable way.

The secret to maintenance, is never giving up.

For me it was a few things. I got an injury and then developed chronic pain, so my exercise routine changed. My diet changed because I started getting IBS, and found out I had fructose and lactose intolerance; so I changed to a low FODMAP diet. Then I started taking a couple of medications for chronic pain and depression, which make you gain weight. I gained 17kg and have maintained my current weight for some time now.

I am a stress and emotional eater.

In 2011 I lost over 50 pounds, and was really proud of my accomplishments. Then I had a lot of things hit me one after the other. I had to quit my job, I had to move and try to find a new job, found out I'd be moving half way across the country at the same time my mom was diagnosed with MS, actually had to move halfway across the country, had a crappy job with a horrible boss, had no friends locally and became quite depressed, hubby ended up in the hospital with complications from his Crohn's, both of our cars needed $1000+ repairs, had to move *again* halfway across the country (back to where we were before), had to try to find a job *again* and on top of all of it an over all stress about finances and the future. In the course of about 2 years, I gained back the 50 I lost, plus another 30.... So 80 pounds.

A couple months ago things finally settled down, so I recommitted. We have 1 move left, and we'll finally settle somewhere. The reason for all the moving was my husband's grad school program. But since he recently graduated and is (hopefully!) taking a job soon (they will be discussing a compensation package tomorrow), we'll be able to relax a bit.